


snow white prince

by jennshiki



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Snow White Fusion, Angst, M/M, Snow White - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 08:37:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8049580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennshiki/pseuds/jennshiki
Summary: AU where Keith is Snow White and Lance is the huntsman sent to kill him--
"You know what to do," said Zarkon. "Kill him. Kill Prince Keith."
Lance threw on that confident grin of his and bowed, tightening the grip on his bow. "Of course, my king. I will bring back his heart as you asked."





	snow white prince

The image of the pale prince appeared in the mirror. He seemed to be asleep, eyes closed, his back leaned against a large willow tree. The leaves dangled high above, fending off the rays of sun, letting the shade engulf him. A peaceful expression was present on his face as he slept, unaware that he was being watched.

"You know what to do," said Zarkon. "Kill him. Kill Prince Keith."

Lance threw on that confident grin of his and bowed, tightening the grip on his bow. "Of course, my king. I will bring back his heart as you asked."

-

Lance breathed in the fresh spring air as he stepped out of the castle. The light breeze that flew by was scented with flowers, and also... death? No, that was just in Lance's head. He'd become so familiar with the stench of a rotting corpse, that it seemed to follow him wherever he went. The fake smile on his face turned into a scowl. Uneasiness was taking grip of his heart, but he tried to push away the unnecessary feeling. He was a huntsman, he killed things. That was how it was and always would be. This assignment was really nothing new to him, though taking a human's life would be a first. Especially taking the life of a prince.

_It shouldn't be that different from shooting down a deer_ , he thought, trying to convince himself. He didn't know why he was feeling so reluctant. It wasn't like he could refuse the King anyways. He would just do what needed to be done, collect his reward, and move on with his life. It's as simple as that. It's as simple as that. He kept repeating the phrase in his head as his feet trudged tiredly against the gravel, and as he headed towards the forest, where a certain prince would meet his end. Afterall, they say that if you tell a lie over and over again, you might just start to believe it.

-

After a half hour of silently trekking through the undergrowth, grass flattening under his boots, he was sorry to say that he felt relieved when he finally found his target.

He recognized the prince at once, lying in his fancy red and blue clothing. King Zarkon had practically burned the image of his face into his mind, to make sure that he killed the right person. Not that it was hard to identify him. Pitch black hair, skin as white as snow, paired with odd sparkling violet eyes (though his eyes were closed at the moment). His hair was styled into a mullet, and Lance still could not comprehend how the prince managed to pull it off. But he'd have plenty of time to think about that once Prince Keith's body was lying lifeless and empty on the forest floor. 

Keith slept on, oblivious. Lance felt suppressed guilt resurfacing as he pulled an arrow from his quiver and took his aim. It wasn't really fair to the prince to just murder him while he was asleep was it? That was his excuse as he lowered his bow and walked over to shake the prince awake. But perhaps somewhere inside him, what he really desperately wanted was that once awake, the prince might be able to stop him. 

Keith's eyes fluttered open, and he yawned, trying to process the situation. He looked up, and any part of him that was still asleep woke with a start when he spotted the arrow that was pointed at him. 

Lance held his breath. The prince looked so much more handsome up close than in the mirror. It was almost ethereal, and he had delicate features that screamed royalty.

Lance stopped that train of thought there before it went too far, and shook off any weird expression he may have been wearing and replaced it with a pitying stare.

"Any last words?" asked Lance tauntingly as he pulled back the arrow. The stretched out bow string was taut, comfortably positioned between Lance's fingers. Despite the familiarity of this situation, a predator hunting its prey, he couldn't stop the slight shaking of his hands.

"Huh?" cried out Keith, trying to back up, only to realize that the tree was in his way. 

Lance smirked at Keith's startled face. A mask of false confidence. 

"I'm sorry prince, I'm merely obeying the orders of my king," said Lance innocently, struggling not to choke as he forced each cruel word out one by one.

The surprise on the prince's face vanished and was replaced with something unrecognizable. Those purple eyes of his narrowed and hardened. 

"Go ahead then," dared Keith. "Shoot me."

Lance gaped at him. "R-really? Well okay then, goodbye Prince Keith." He stared at the prince, who stared back expectantly, waiting for the arrow to pierce him. Lance's hands felt sweaty and slippery as he grasped the wooden bow. Anytime now, he thought to himself, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to release the arrow. 

It reminded him of the first time he went on a hunting trip with his family. He was 7 years old, and he had sneaked up on a rabbit. He positioned his bow perfectly just as he was taught, but he was scared. He didn't want to kill the poor animal, who had done nothing wrong. The thought of knowing that this living, breathing, beautiful creature would never take another breath if he released that arrow scared him more than anything in the world. 

And he felt the same way now, as he stared at Keith's face. Such a pretty face. Lance sighed and lowered his bow. He couldn't do this and live without regretting it.

Keith didn't seem surprised at Lance's decision. "I thought so. You don't look like the murdering type."

Lance raised an eyebrow and held back the urge to laugh. Murdering animals was what he did for a living. "What makes you say that?" he asked, twirling the unused arrow around.

"You did wake me up after all," reminded Keith. "So are you not going to kill me, like for sure?"

Lance sighed once more. "I guess not. You better run before King Zarkon finds out. Who knows, he might even be watching us right now."

"What are you going to do?"

There it was, the question that Lance really didn't want to think about. He shrugged, trying to give off an air like he couldn't care less. Inside though, he was screaming at himself. He was walking right into his own funeral.

Keith looked touched at Lance's selflessness, and jumped to his feet, pulling Lance into a hug. "Thank you," he whispered into his ear. Lance was speechless, and felt his face heat up as he awkwardly returned the hug, uncertainly wrapping his arms around the shorter boy. Lance breathed in, and the smell of death was quickly forgotten as his senses were filled with the prince and him only. Lance tried to carve this moment into his memory. The feeling of Keith's arms wrapped around him, his soft black hair pressed against his neck. Lance felt his heart flutter, leap, and then sink with growing feelings that he knew could never possibly be returned. He swore at himself when he realized that somehow in a matter of minutes, he had developed a crush on a stranger. And not just any stranger, the prince, as in the heir to the throne of the kingdom he lived in. What was he thinking, falling for a guy like this in this particular situation? _Is this what they call love at first sight?_ wondered Lance incredulously.

"What's your name? I won't forget you," asked Keith as they broke apart from their hug. 

_Yeah right, I'm sure I'll be forgotten the moment I'm out of your sight_ , thought Lance sadly, trying to will his heart to stop beating so fast. "The name's Lance, pleasure to make your acquaintance." He bowed, trying to be polite. Might as well leave a good impression.

"Haha, uh, no need for that. Lance huh? Thank you, again, truly. I'm beyond grateful." 

Lance straightened up in time to see Keith wave a quick goodbye, his lips turned up in a small smile. Then Keith turned around and walked away briskly, into the shadows of the trees. Gone. Lance didn't move, staring at the spot where Keith had been standing just moments before. Never again. He closed his eyes and collapsed onto the ground. The moment was over and now fear had seized him. He was so screwed. Taking deep breaths, he tried to calm himself down. Get it together Lance, he thought, and pushed himself back up.  
-  
Lance knocked twice on the giant castle gates that loomed over him, stretching up into the sky. The moment he did, they began to open, with a loud creaking sound. In his hands, he held a bag that contained the heart he was told to bring back. But not really. It was a pig's heart, the only thing Lance could find that might fool Zarkon for at last a while. Hopefully long enough for him to escape out of the kingdom and never look back. His feet felt heavy as boulders as he stepped forward and into the castle, but he pushed on. No going back now.

"Did you do as I asked?" boomed the king's voice, echoing through the halls of the huge castle. 

"Of course I did," scoffed Lance, putting on a face like he was annoyed that the king didn't seem to be confident in his ability. 

He turned and walked into the throne room where Zarkon stood waiting, his eyes focused on his magic mirror. All the answers, all the truth, just an inch away, behind the glass. Lance gulped but held his head high with pride. 

"I have the prince's heart, as you requested. He was killed painfully with three arrows to the chest."

Zarkon turned to face him. Lance tried his best not to shrink under his gaze. _Does he already know the truth?_ wondered Lance.

"Really? Wonderful. Bring the heart to me."

Lance nodded and walked forward quickly, dropping the bag into Zarkon's hands, old and aged with a color that almost resembled purple. The king reached into the bag and pulled out the heart, still bloody. But Zarkon wasn't stupid, and he turned back to his mirror.

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the strongest of them all?"

"Prince K-"

Lance didn't even wait to hear the answer. He already knew what it was. He turned tail and bolted, racing out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him. Adrenaline pumped through his vein, and he ran with all his might, motivated by the one thing he had left. Hope.

But that one light was quickly crushed when two guards came out of nowhere and grabbed hold of his arms, and he gave in. He let them take him back towards the throne room without a fight. He knew it was over. Why did he even think for a second that he might be able to pull this off?

"Traitor. Don't send a commoner to do a king's job," came Zarkon's voice, thick with disappointment and disgust. "Take him to the dungeons."

Lance closed his eyes and followed obediently as the guards dragged him away. He'd rather have been executed on the spot than left to die a slow agonizing death in the dungeons, as was the fate of many. Perhaps he could sneak an arrow in and slit his throat. Because there was no other choice besides those two options anymore. Die after three days of lack of water and food, or die in a few seconds by his own hand. This was his own doing. He sealed his fate when he decided to spare the life of a stranger. All because of what. An unrequited love? His heart ached at the thought. He cursed at himself for being stupid enough to be caught in the moment. How could he fall so hard for someone he had just met, that he knew not a thing about?

The guards stopped walking and he knew that they had arrived at his cell. Hands pushed him forward and he reached his own hands out to cushion his fall. He landed on his side, stinging pain spreading through him. Not that it really mattered. He was a dead man. He opened his eyes and watched as the guards shut the door, locking him in. He slid back towards the wall and slumped against the cold bricks, his cloak not doing much in keeping him warm.

Maybe the prince would come back to rescue him? That was a thought he liked to entertain himself with. Of course it was impossible in every way. In fact, the prince most likely had already forgotten about him. He wasn't entirely wrong.

Turns out, Zarkon had other plans in mind than killing him. He'd realized the reason that Lance failed to kill the prince, and would've been dumb not to use it to his advantage. So he did. He used it to torture Lance.

Zarkon placed a mirror in his cell where Lance was forced to watch Keith, helpless. Unable to do anything but scream when he watched Keith bite into a poison apple. Unable to do anything but cry when he watched Keith collapse. Unable to do anything but laugh at himself when Keith's prince showed up.

Lance sat in the dark dungeon. It had been a week, and he was completely and utterly defeated. He felt a bitter kind of joy as he watched Keith in the mirror, awakened by true love's kiss, from a man with a scar on his nose, and a white tuft of hair. True love. True love is something that has to go both ways. Lance never even had a chance.

Lance was thankful that Keith was alive again, awake, breathing. Living. But he was only human and couldn't help but feel envious. Angry. Lance practically sacrificed himself so a boy he barely knew could continue living his perfect fairytale life, and then forget him as he found his own prince. 

He chuckled with what little energy he had left. What was he thinking? A prince and a huntsman? Why did he ever dare to dream? He could have shot him dead with his arrow. He could've continued living his meaningless life, taking the lives of others who also wanted to live. Now he was going to die, alone, rotting away in a cell, with no one left to remember him. If no one remembers you then you never existed, right? And why did all of this happen? All for the sake of one beautiful prince who had probably forgotten him by now, enamored with his perfect happy ending. All for the sake of the prince with snow white skin. And the boy would never know.

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea and I knew i hAD TO DO IT UGH lance was supposed to be snow white in my original idea bc his personality might make it interesting but then keith fit the description a lot better lmao so yep
> 
> IT'S REALLY BAD THOUGH I FEEL LIKE THIS IS THE WORST THING I'VE WRITTEN IN MY LIFE Sbs i'll revise it later i guess or rework it , it's kind of rushed so sorry if you hate it i hate it too
> 
> the ending is literally the only thing i like and i wrote the ending first bc i already made the ending haha


End file.
